Warm up:

Why do people/nations construct boundaries?

Objective:

To interpret maps to explain the differences between political land units (cities, states, countries) and interpret how political borders (natural or man-made) are created.

• Nation: a group of people with a common culture living in a territory and having a strong sense of unity.

• State: an independent unit that occupies a specific territory and has full control of its internal and external affairs. Often the term “country” is used to mean state.

• Nation-state: when a nation and state occupy the same territory.

Examples:Are the following a: nation, state or nation-state?

-Israel?nation-state

-Canada?state

-Cherokees?nation

-India?nation-state

-Japan?nation-state

Two types of boundaries

1. Natural Political Boundaries

2. Artificial Boundaries (man-made)

Natural Political Boundaries

• Based on physical features• Rivers• Lakes• Mountains• Desert

Rio Grande separates Texas and Mexico

Lake Superior separates Wisconsin and Michigan from Ontario.

Pyrenees Mountains separate Spain and France.

The Sahara Desert separates Algeria and Libya from Mali, Niger and Chad.

Artificial Boundaries (man-made)

• A fixed line drawn by government• Often follows lines of latitude and longitude or

some other human construct (surveys)

The boundary between U.S. and Canada lies mostly along the 49 degree North latitude line.

Four corners boundaries: Utah, Colorado, New Arizona and New Mexico.

Why are nations so protective of their boundaries?

Border Conflicts

1. Palestine and Israel• After World War II, in May of 1948 the modern

state of Israel was established• Multitude of reasons, but also to establish a

nation for the Jewish population—who were recently victimized in the Holocaust (WWII)

• Result: dispute over territories (ex. Gaza Strip), which has resulted in many deaths, destruction and warfare

Border Conflicts

2. India and Pakistan• Divided by Indian Independence Act 1947• Ended: 1. British Indian Empire and 2. British

Raj• Decision based on religion: 1. Islam (Pakistan)

and 2. Hindi (India)• Result: displaced people, nuclear conflict,

armed engagements,

Problems

• When these political boundaries were created, tribal lands, allegiances and religious affiliations were often ignored